Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid. The term "sasquatch" is an anglicized derivative of the word "sésquac" which means "wild man" in a Salish Native American language. Scientists discount the existence of bigfoot and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal, in part because of the large numbers thought necessary to maintain a breeding population. A few scientists, such as Jane Goodall and Jeffrey Meldrum, have expressed interest and belief in the creature, with Meldrum expressing the opinion that evidence collected of alleged Bigfoot encounters warrants further evaluation and testing. Bigfoot remains one of the more famous examples of a cryptid within cryptozoology, and an enduring legend. Wildmen stories are found among the indigenous population of the Pacific Northwest. The legends existed prior to a single name for the creature. They differed in their details both regionally and between families in the same community. Similar stories of wildmen are found on every continent except Antarctica. Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle argues that most cultures have human-like giants in their folk history: "We have this need for some larger-than-life creature." Members of the Lummi tell tales about Ts'emekwes, the local version of bigfoot. The stories are similar to each other in terms of the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details about the creature's diet and activities differed between the stories of different families. Some regional versions contained more nefarious creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race that children were told not to say the names of lest the monsters hear and come to carry off a person—sometimes to be killed. In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the native people about skoocooms: a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens. The skoocooms appear to have been regarded as supernatural, rather than natural. Less menacing versions such as the one recorded by Reverend Elkanah Walker exist. In 1840, Walker, a Protestant missionary, recorded stories of giants among the Native Americans living in Spokane, Washington. The Indians claimed that these giants lived on and around the peaks of nearby mountains and stole salmon from the fishermen's nets. The local legends were combined together by J. W. Burns in a series of Canadian newspaper articles in the 1920s. Each language had its own name for the local version. Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man" although other names described common actions it was said to perform (e.g. eating clams). Burns coined the term Sasquatch, which is from the Halkomelem sásq’ets and used it in his articles to describe a hypothetical single type of creature reflected in these various stories. Burns's articles popularized both the legend and its new name, making it well known in western Canada before it gained popularity in the United States. In 1951, Eric Shipton had photographed what he described as a Yeti footprint. This photograph generated considerable attention and the story of the Yeti entered into popular consciousness. The notoriety of ape-men grew over the decade, culminating in 1958 when large footprints were found in Del Norte County, California, by bulldozer operator Gerald Crew. Sets of large tracks appeared multiple times around a road-construction site in Bluff Creek. After not being taken seriously about what he was seeing, Crew brought in his friend, Bob Titmus, to cast the prints in plaster. The story was published in the Humboldt Times along with a photo of Crew holding one of the casts. Locals had been calling the unseen track-maker "Big Foot" since the late summer, which Humboldt Times columnist Andrew Genzoli shortened to "Bigfoot" in his article. Bigfoot gained international attention when the story was picked up by the Associated Press. Following the death of Ray Wallace – a local logger – his family attributed the creation of the footprints to him. The wife of Scoop Beal, the editor of the Humboldt Standard, which later combined with the Humboldt Times, in which Genzoli's story had appeared, has stated that her husband was in on the hoax with Wallace. 1958 was a watershed year for not just the bigfoot story itself but also the culture that surrounds it. The first bigfoot hunters began following the discovery of footprints at Bluff Creek, California. Within a year, Tom Slick, who had funded searches for Yeti in the Himalayas earlier in the decade, organized searches for bigfoot in the area around Bluff Creek. As Bigfoot has become better known and a phenomenon in popular culture, sightings have spread throughout North America. In addition to the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and the Southeastern United States have had many reports of Bigfoot sightings. Battle vs El Chupacabra A bigfoot is walking through the forrests of north america, looking for food. Suddenly the wiff of a freshly killed animal hits it's nostrils and ,hooting, makes it's way over to where it could smell the prey. It finds the crumpled up body of a deer lying sprawled in a clearing and walks over to it. However once it picks up it's food it realies that it feels lighter than it should do. The bigfoot quickly realies that the deer is missing all of it's blood and it's ears twitch as it hears a growling sound. It turns round and spots a pair dog like creatures which are snarling at the ape viciously. Bigfoot bangs it's fists against it's chest as a warning but the creature ignore it's warning and lunge forward, one going for the left leg the other going for the right shoulder. Bigfoot shoulder barges one out of the way but the other clamps it's feet down on his leg, making the giant ape hoot in agony. It shakes the beast off of it's leg and stumbles off into the forrest, the creatures following not far behind. However it's not long before the Chupacabras loose sight of thier adversary and begin sniffing around to try and get a wiff of bigfoot's scent. One of them catches a smell but before it can react it is crushed by a boulder. (1-1) The other chupacabra snarls viciously and jumps at the bigfoot which has just appeared next to a tree. It latches onto the ape's right arm and begins clawing at it, releashing it's gip occasionaly to bite down on a different part of the ape's arm. It hoots in agony and tries to pull it off but the spikes on it's back prevent it from being able to get a good grip. The bigfoot looks around from anything that can help it and spots a large rock. It runs over to the rock, the chupacabra still viciously attacking his arm, and slams it agianst the side of the rock, making the chupacabra loose it's grip. This allows the bigfoot to get a strong grip around the bloodsuckers neck and twist it, snapping the bone and dropping the limp lifeless body onto the floor. The bigfoot hoots in victory and shambles off back into the brush again. Epilouge The man lowers his camera, in shock at what he has just witnessed. This shock soon turns into a happy grin and he pumps his fist into the air. "I'm gonna be rich and famous when people see this. I've gotta go show somebody" he say excitedly. He turns to walk back to his campsite when two thick, hairy hands clamp over his shoulders. "What th..." is all the man has time to say before one of the hands clamps over his mouth. He kicks and screams into the hand but he is no match for the strength of the creature who drags him off into the bushes, crushing his camera underfoot. Winner Bigfoot Experts Opinion Bigfoot won because of his size, stealth and most of all his intelligence which allowed him to triumph over the chupracabras who relied mostly on instinct when in a fight. Category:Urban Legends Category:Unknown Creatures Category:Primates Category:North American Animals Category:Animals Category:Bipedal animals Category:Vertebrates Category:Forest animals Category:Mammals Category:Humanoid Creatures Category:Apes